Fugitive in $9M theft case had high-priced collectibles

Updated 11:21 pm, Monday, January 7, 2013

Anthony Chiofalo, a lawyer who has been on the run since last summer when he was charged with felony theft, was denied bail in a Houston court on Monday.

Anthony Chiofalo, a lawyer who has been on the run since last summer when he was charged with felony theft, was denied bail in a Houston court on Monday.

Photo: Karen Warren, Staff

Fugitive in $9M theft case had high-priced collectibles

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When authorities raided Anthony Chiofalo's home and storage units after he was accused of embezzling more than $9 million from his employer, they found hundreds of valuable items including a baseball signed by Babe Ruth, a first edition Playboy and the first ever Batman comic book, worth about $900,000.

"He had sports memorabilia and very expensive comic books, that are like bearer bonds because they're hard to trace," said Bryan Vaclavik, a financial fraud consultant. "I think he was buying comic books as an investment and we are trying to locate each and every one of those comic books."

He said there are still comic books missing that are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Chiofalo, 51, of Spring, appeared Monday in a Harris County court for the first time.

Court records show that Chiofalo had hundreds of sports memorabilia collectibles including a boxing robe worn by Muhammad Ali, a signed first edition of Mario Puzo's novel, "The Godfather," and a baseball helmet signed by Pete Rose. Authorities also recovered dozens of signed posters and scores of baseball cards.

Vaclavik is working for Tadano America Corp. a wholly owned subsidiary of a Japanese company that manufactures large cranes. In 2009, the company hired Chiofalo, a New York attorney who came to Houston after he was disbarred.

Charged in June

A year later, prosecutors said, Chiofalo set up dummy law firms that he claimed were doing litigation work for his employer. When Tadano paid the fake invoices, prosecutors say, Chiofalo pocketed the money.

Company officials became suspicious last year and Chiofalo last June was charged with felony theft. Before he could be arrested, the lawyer fled Houston and spent seven months on the lam.

In December, he turned himself in because, his lawyer said, he was affected by the recent school shooting in Newtown, Conn. Chiofalo's attorney, Paul Doyle, said his client was living in a garage apartment in a Rhode Island neighborhood full of children.

"He felt like, if he were to be found, SWAT would come in and there's no reason to terrify anyone else," Doyle said. "He voluntarily turned himself in. He's here to take responsibility for what he did."

After hearing that Chiofalo had been missing since June, state District Judge Maria Jackson on Monday refused to grant him bail.

Assistant Harris County District Attorney Martina Longoria told Jackson that considerable law enforcement assets had been used to search for Chiofalo before he turned himself in several weeks ago at a police station in Newport, R.I.

Wife also charged

Philip Hilder, an attorney for Tadano, said Monday that Chiofalo took advantage of a position of trust at the company.

"If Mr. Chiofalo wanted to cooperate, he wouldn't have fled," Hilder said. "He would have turned himself in seven months ago."

He said the company, as well as the District Attorney's Office, is working to track down everything that Chiofalo bought, to try to recover as much money as possible.

Chiofalo's wife, 51-year-old Susan Chiofalo, has also been charged in the alleged scheme. She is free on a $100,000 bail.

If convicted of felony theft of more than $200,000, both face a maximum of life in prison.